Rail fastening



Patented Sept. 24, 1940 UNITED STATES- aan. FAs'rENrNG Eben R.. Packer,New'Ri-ochelle, N. Y., asslgnor to The Rails Company, New Haven, Conn.,a corporation of Connecticut Application December s, 1937, serial No.178,665

1 Claim.

5 base bearing portion which frictionally clamps' the rail to itssupport.

This invention has for an object the provision of resilient means forholding a railroad rail and its tieplate support on a Wooden tie bydriving the fastening, which has a divided shank, through an opening inthe tieplate, preferably leither the regular spike opening or the anchorspike opening as desired, and into a prebored hole in the tie, thespring wedge effect resulting 5 from the acute divergence of the twomembers of the divided shank serving to grip the tieplate as Well as tohelp in anchoring the fastening in the tie, and a curved bearing portionformed at the extremity of one member of the shank serving to overlieand clamp the rail base while the extremity of the other shank member isformed to provide a head whereby the fastening may be driven with aspike maul or the like, avoiding special tools. l An object of theinvention is to provide a rela-I tively cheap, easily installed drivefastening for present rail construction requiring no special tieplateand no special tools or equipment and serving both to anchor thetieplate and to frictionally hold the rail in such manner as to preventcreeping but permit wave motion and yet which does not fasten the railand tieplate together in such manner that upwards motion of the raillifts the tieplate olf the tie.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rail fastening which maybe readily driven into f place and easily removed, and which'is ruggedand capable of exerting great force agains undesired rail movement. 40With the foregoing andother objects in view, as will be apparent as thedescription proceeds, my invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of con.- struction described inthis specification and particularly pointed out in the appended claim,it being understood that changes may be made in the particularembodiment of the invention, within the scope of what is claimed,without departing from the spirit of the invention. I

intend no limitation other than those of the l claim when fairlyinterpreted in the light of the full disclosure and the presentv stateof the art.

In the drawing, Fig. l illustrates in side elevation a preferred form ofrail fastening according to this invention; Fig. 2 illustrates infragmentary vertical section a preferred application of the fastening ofFig. 1 toa rail structure, in this case using the anchor spike hole ofthe tie"- plate; Fig. 3 illustrates a modified form of rail fastening.Similar reference characters relate to similar parts in all the views.

For the most part present tieplates are provided with spike openingsapproximately inch square and my preferred'form of rail fastening forgeneral usewith such tieplates according to this invention is preferablyformed of spring steel strip or band approximately -'inch wide andapproximately inch thick and the completed fastening is approximately'I1/4 inches long overv all, thus corresponding generally with the dimensions of the usual rail spike which is also the generally used anchorspike.

A band or strip of the required dimensions is preferably bent double andthe point end .4 shaped,` which forces the two cooperating shank members2 and 3 to hug tightly at and near the point I and for a considerabledistance up the shank above which they diverge acutely so that they maybe as much as 1/2 inch apart at the to'p where the longer member .3 iscurved to provide a rail base bearing member I and-the other shankmember 2 is formed to provide a drive head, either by turning the endover, as at 5 (Fig. 3), which makes it easier to Withdraw with a spikepuller, or by presenting an upstanding end, as at 5A (Figs. 1 and 2),which is free from the rail base bearing member I. Preferably in thelatter case a curve or bend 6 is provided in the leg 2 below the drivinghead 5A of such character that when the fastening is driven intooperating position (Fig. 2) the short leg 2 strikes the other member ofthe shank and reinforces the rail bearing portion I, as at Il, tendingto stiIIen it.

In practise the wooden tie 'I is prebored, the size of the opening beingsuch (say, 5A; inch diameter) that the corner edges of the shank members2, 3,- cut into the wood of the tie as the fastening is driven intoplace.. In preparing the tie I prefer to drive part way into the bore arouting or forming tool, usually a short spike, of the dimensions of thespike hole I0 in the tieplate 8, to enlarge the upper part of the boreof the tie so that it does not prevent the shank members 2, 3, fromgripping the faces of the spike opening III. This short spike isWithdrawn', of course, before driving in the rail fastening. l

It is apparent to those skilled inthe art that if the fastening of Fig.1 or Fig.v 3 is driven in suficiently, there is a change in the form ofthe resilient bearing portion I which creates downward pressure on therail base 9 and a frictional ,holding force of several hundred poundsmay be created, the force acting not only between the portion l andthelrail 9 but also between the rail 9 and the tieplate 8. Any upwardtendency to motion of the rail 9 is resisted by a. orkn changek in theportion I and the bands 2 and 3, resulting in added pressure, but theforce component which tends to lift 4the shank is so small as to be ofslight eiect in the withdrawal direction of the fastening which iswedged tightly into the hard wood of the tie 1. Without an upwardmovement of the fastening the tieplate 8 continues to be clamped iirmlyto the tie 'i by the spring legs 2 and 3 and is held against lateralmotion. It is apparent that the rail 9 and tieplate 8 are not fastenedtogether by the rail fastening.

What I claim is :l A resilient rail fastening for securing a railroadrail and its support to a wooden tie, consisting of a drive yspikecomprising a pair of metal bands of resilient material forming a twopart shank of substantially the same cross section as a rail spike atand near the point only and of similar length, the two bands divergingacutely thereabove to form a V-shaped spring wedge, one of said bandsprovided with a curved upper portion adapted to overlie the rail baseand the other of said bands formed to provide a driving head and curvedtowards said rst band below said driving head and of such character asto provide a, reinforcement for said curved upper portion of said firstmentioned band when said rail fastening isdriven into operativeposition, the said V-shaped wedge being of such character and dimensionsthat the two said bands are forced together when driven into a spikeopening of a tieplate to operating position.

EBEN R. Paolina. m

